Macedonia to start NATO membership negotiations

The Macedonian government said on Tuesday that it would start negotiations on membership in NATO next week.

A government press release said that Prime Minister Zoran Zaev’s cabinet adopted a document on the requirements for NATO accession talks, which are due to start in Brussels on October 18-19.

The government also decided to form a working committee for the country’s integration into the Alliance which will conduct the accession talks.

Macedonia was formally invited to join the alliance at a NATO summit in Brussels on July 12, 2018 and started talks on July 25.

Membership in the alliance and the start of pre-accession negotiations with the European Union depends on the ratification of the agreement reached by Prime Minister Zaev and his Greek counterpart Alexis Tsipras to resolve the dispute over the name of the former Yugoslav republic.